#4 Amidst rain, birthdays and visitors...

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access an entire list here.

“Will you not tremble at my presence?” I thought of this verse, while viewing the vastness and and the greatness of the ocean. It made me think a lot of the God I serve. I serve an AWESOME God!!! Am I serving Him with total awe and respect? Or are the luxuries of this life keeping me from serving God to my fullest? We have so much, but once it starts to take place of God in our life, we need to step back and take a look. In the context of this verse, God had to strip Judah and Israel of all their benefits that were becoming more important than God. Just a question that came to mind, when I spent time at the beach.

Wow!! Time has a way of getting away from me, but each and every day has been filled with joys, frustrations, tears, and questions. Each day may be a bed of roses, but - REMEMBER – roses have thorns!

Since I wrote last, a lot has taken place. Davy's youth group came down to visit, so on Friday, we met them at the “Rancho” in La Palmerita to spend the afternoon playing with the young children. We played soccer and did several relay games. It was especially fun playing soccer, with little children!! It makes a game very interesting. Afterward, we all headed to the house for a short rest before they headed back out to pick up the youth from La Palmerita for youth night. We played some more soccer and a game similar to Prisoner's Base w/ bottles, but we used sticks instead.

Once it starting getting dark, we all gathered on the porch for a time of singing, before roasting hot dogs. It was great to once again spend time in singing. I love singing in Spanish as good as singing in English. After they all ate, the guys took them back to La Palmerita and the rest of us gathered around on the porch and had a great time.

Saturday was a day of Prayer and Fasting. The service at the church started at 11:00. The service lasts 2 hours, more or less. I was blessed by the service – especially by the little I understood. It rained a good amount that morning, so by the time we went home, the waterway had a nice amount of water in it. The waterway is a creek bed, that is dry in dry season, but every time it rains, it has a nice amount of water in it. Sorry the picture isn't clearer. I was riding in the truck behind this one.

Monday, we were invited to go with everyone from Leon to climb Cerro Negro and go to the beach. We decided to meet them in time to go along to the beach. I had a great afternoon at the beach with everyone and getting to know some of the people for Michigan better. In the evening, we ate at a restaurant on the beach. I had Singapore Shrimp; however I do not have a picture, because my picture did not get nice or clear. It was great to spend time with them – learning to know new people and seeing people I haven't seen for a while.

Tuesday was a La Palmerita day; however this time there was no mud puddle experience. I am sorry for all of you that were waiting to hear about another such experience. Our first stop of the day was with Arelis. We had our first Bible Study with her. From there we headed to Johanna's and spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon with her. It was her birthday and she was making bonlluelas?? We spent the morning helping her. 

It was quite an experience and they were very good. They are made from freshly-ground corn and cuajada. You form the into little balls and fry them in oil. You then can eat them with honey or any type of sweet sauce. Johanna made a sweet sauce with Cinnamon in it. We then had our girls' class at 2:00 before returning to pick up Johanna and the boys to take them out for her birthday. We went out for quesillos and ice cream. We had a great time with them.

Quite an experience here in Nicaragua. I was trying to find things to hang the doughnuts on to let them cool after they have the glaze. I couldn't find what I needed so I went to ask Laura. She said “What about the hot dogs sticks?” So that is what we used and hung them over the kitchen sink. 

Friday morning was spent getting everything back into the refrigerator, as we had been living without a refrigerator since Monday. I cleaned the kitchen, while Virginia ran out to La Palmerita. After she came back, she baked cakes for Yader's birthday and I attempted to make bread that kinda flopped!! But we are gonna use it for bread crumbs. Estebyn came up around 2:30 to help us make enchiladas for supper. 

I had a great time making them and they actually turned out very good. The young people from the neighborhood came to play baseball and to have supper with us. Virginia made a baseball bat and baseball for his cake.

He was in his glory. I had very enjoyable time with all of them.

Well, I think it is time to close. Thank you each and everyone for your encouraging emails. God bless you where ever you are.

Serving Him in Nicaragua,

Andrea

First Post of Nicaraguan Updates